Healthy Building Checklists

Healthy Building Checklists
This is the second in a series of blogs diving deeper into the Healthy Building Rating System’s Healthy Home Standard. There are four healthy building checklists within the Healthy Home Standard: Qualification Checklist, Indoor Air Quality Checklist, Electromagnetic Radiation Checklist, and Water Quality Checklist. This blog reviews the first and perhaps most important  of the
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IEQ Investigations – The 4 P’s

IEQ investigations
IEQ Investigations – The 4 P’s Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is critical for occupant comfort, productivity, and well-being. An IEQ investigation should be performed proactively in order to avoid occupant complaints and decreased productivity, and to minimize long-term damage to building materials. Too often, IEQ investigations are made reactively – in response to occupant complaints or known
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Exposure Limits in US – Alphabet Soup

Exposure Limits in US
Exposure Limits in US – Alphabet Soup Exposure Limits in US should be super simple. “Do not exceed #.” But it’s a government regulatory issue… so how simple could it be? Here is a summary of the primary exposure limits used by our government and industrial hygienists in the United States. Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) – OSHA
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Mold Testing is a Bad Idea?

mold testing
Mold Testing is a Bad Idea? “Mold testing” is commonly requested. People like the idea of collecting samples and getting actual data back from a microbiological lab, but mold testing results are highly variable and easily misinterpreted. For there to be statistical significance in the results there must be many samples collected, and most project
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Comparing Air Quality Results from Green Festival and GreenBuild San Francisco

GreenBuild VOC Sampling - Alex Stadtner
Comparing Air Quality Results from Green Festival and GreenBuild San Francisco For those curious about indoor air quality… we are comparing air quality results from Green Festival and GreenBuild San Francisco. This is a very limited sampling method and sample size, so take these results with a grain of salt. But you must admit it
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San Francisco Air Quality Results from GreenBuild

GreenBuild Air Quality Testing
San Francisco Air Quality Results from GreenBuild Hopefully those who were breathing at GreenBuild are still curious to what was in the air! Below are the air quality results from GreenBuild San Francisco – 2012. San Francisco air quality varies greatly from building to building. Would this building have met LEED standards? This is admittedly a
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Air Quality Results from Green Festival San Francisco

Green Festival VOC Pie Chart
Air Quality Results from Green Festival San Francisco We’ve been swamped so the release of the air quality results from Green Festival San Francisco has taken longer than expected. Hopefully those who were at the Green Festival are still curious! I don’t have enough time to provide too much commentary or interpretation of the results…
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Toxic Building Materials in Residential Construction

toxic building materials
Toxic Building Materials in Residential Construction A reporter from Angie’s List Magazine just asked for my opinion on toxic building materials in residential construction… and while writing my response I realized there was some valuable information to share. Hopefully Angie’s List Magazine will decide to run the piece. Here is my response to some great
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Sick Building Materials Smell Bad – What if it’s too late and the building stinks?

Sick building
Sick Building Materials Smell Bad- What if it’s too late and the building stinks? At least once a week we get the following call… “We were so careful to only allow healthy materials in our project. But we just moved in and it stinks! We’re worried the building materials smell bad. Can you come test
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